Ethnographic Food Writing, or How I Ate My Way Across Wisconsin and Indiana and Lived to Write About It

April 28, 2012

Joanne Stuttgen is a folklorist and author of Cafe Wisconsin and Cafe Indiana, two ethnographic books about the food, people, culture, social rituals, and history of each state’s small town cafes. Stuttgen is also a co-author of Cafe Wisconsin Cookbook and Cafe Indiana Cookbook, which offer recipes and a more indepth examination of cafe food. In this talk, Joanne Stuttgen shares her research and fieldwork methodologies developed while writing these books. As she writes, “Everyone is always very curious about why and how I ate my way across two states one diner at a time. Most people have a romantic view of my adventures and have no idea just how much work there is!”

This talk was part of the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance's fifth annual symposium, "Road Food: Exploring the Midwest One Bite at a Time." Other events from this symposium recorded by Chicago Amplified—listed in the order they were presented—are as follows: